Reproducing-needle.



A. B. WAHLQUIST & F. D. HALL.

REPRODUCING NEEDLE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25, 1914.

Patented Dec; 5, 1916.

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:llulllllililv W m m VIN E. WAHLQIJ'IS'I' AND FREDERICK 1D. HALL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; SAID W i= IAQ'UISI ASSIGIIORI T0 SAID HALL.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, IQIIF.

Application filed November 25, 1914. Serial No. 873,886.

of the United States, residing at Chicago,-

in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ReproducingNeedles, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to reproducing needles.

It has been found that when fiber needles are used in phonographs the point and sides of the needle soon become so worn that it no longer does good work. In order that the needle may be used again it has been customary to remove a thin shaving of uniform thickness from the end of the needle. When bamboo needles are used it has been found that the last fibers to be out are apt to spring away from the cutting edge as there are no other fibers to back them up, resulting in a poor point.

One of the objects of our invention is to prevent this splitting off of the fibers.

Further objects will appear from the detailed description to follow.

In the drawings, in which we have illustrated one embodiment of our invention; Figure 1 is a perspective view of the complete cutter; Fig.2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 3 showing the manner in which the cutting member is mounted on the upright support; Fig. 3 is a view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing the'relation of the housing to the support, and showing also the angle at which the'cutting edge engages the needle; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, showing the relation of the guard to the passage which guides the needle; Fig. 5 is a detail view on an enlarged scale of a common form of fiber needle showing the manner in which it engages a phonograph record; Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of a common form of fiber needle before it has been operated on by the repointing cutter; and Fig. 7 is a view showing a plurality of needles which have been repointed a different number of times.

Referring now to the drawing in detail the device includes a base 10, an upright support 11 secured to the base in a suitable manner, and a housing 12 for the operating mechanism secured to the support 11 in any sultable manner as by screws 13. The.support 11 has a passage 14 therein extending from its upper face to the inner face of the support. This passage is angular in cross section, one of its sides being indicated at 14. A cutter member 15 is pivotally secured to the support 11 by means of a screw 16 having a head 17 engaging said cutter member, said screw extending through the support 11 and being held in place by means of a rounded off nut 18. The cutter mem- -ber 15 has a cutting edge 19 which moves member has secured thereto by means of a screw 27 an operating handle 21. A guard member 22 is secured to the cutting member 15 in any suitable manner as by screws 23. A spring 24 connected to the support 11 by means of a pin 25 and connected to the operating member 20 by means of a pin 26 serves to return the cutting member after it has been operated. The screw 27 serves to limit the movement of the operating member by coming in contact With the support 11. A curved plate 27 secured to the housing 12 in any suitable manner, as by soldering, is provided to catch the clippings as they are removed. The housing 12. is provided with an opening 27 through which the clippings may be removed from the housing.

28 indicates a well known form of fiber needle formed of bamboo having a thin hardengagement with the grooves 32 of a phonograph record 33.

The operation of our device is as follows:

After a fiber phonograph needle has been used for some time the extreme point and sides of the needle become worn so that it no .longer does good work. To repoint the lar direction and the disk revolves at a high rate of speed, the point of the needle is worn adjacent the point 31. It will be noted that the extreme point and sides of the needle will be removed by this operation as indicated in Fig. 7. In Fig. 7 about three cuts have been removed from the needle shown on the left hand and about one cut from the needle shown on the right hand. It will be noted that the cut on the soft side commences quite low down toward the point and gradually rises, taking ofi more of the soft and frayed or splintered a'little.

Heretofore in the repointing'by the use of all other machines or devices,the out has followed the direction of the original cut and as 'there has been no material back of the point to reinforce it, the new out very frequently not only fails to take off the frayed and splintered point but in the cut ting accentuates the splintering as it is clearly apparent that there is nothing back of the extreme point to prevent such action of the cutting blade. In our device, however, it will be noted that every time the needle is repointed, the cutting blade presses against the soft side adjacent the outer shell and in removing the thin shaving, the needleis pressed tightly against the ck of the grooveand the fibers of the needle forced more tightly together and held against fraying by the mere movement of the cutting blade itself. Therefore, in our device instead of there being any tendency to fray the needle, the tendency is all in the ppposite direction and the repointed needle is as good as new and gives as good results in playing as the original needle.

It is thought that our present device is a distinct advance in the art and that a cutter has now been produced that will not only repoint the needles a large number of times,

. but will also'repoint them in such a way as to give a perfect point after each operation. In practice, we have found that good results were obtained by making the passage 15]: ex-

tend at an angle of- 10 to 15 degrees from the plane in which the cutter moves, al-

thoughconditions may arise in which other angles may be used, but in the main the cut is along the general direction of the fiber of the needle itself, thus serving to pack such fiber more closely together instead of separating them as in other cutters. ThlS particular'method of sharpening a fiber needle versely, thus insuring a perfectly even and smooth out on the cortex side of the fiber. The cutter also has this advantage, that it is not necessary to hold the needle in position against the-guard as the weight of the needle itself holds it there. It is also thoughtto be the only fiber needle cutter that can be attached to the talking machine or to the cabinet on which the machine sets and be used without the. assistance of the hands for holding it in place.

Another great advantage is that the original cut made at the factory by expensive machinery, and which is a clean cut on the cortex side, is not disturbed by using the new cutter, except at the extreme end, the pulp and a very small portion of the cortex at the point of the needle only being removed.

It is to be noted that when the needle is originally made, that is, the first cut made by the machine cutters, the lastportion of the needle tobe acted on by the cutter blade,

is the extreme point of the cortex at, for instance, the point marked 31 in Fig). 6. When this cut is made there is nothing ack of the needle and there is consequently great liability of the extreme point of the cortex being disturbed. This condition is not apparent to the eye or even to an ordinary microscope, but it is evident that the condition does exist and is the cause often of needles wearing-quickly at the-extreme point. However, it is to be noted that by the first cut made by the repointing device covered by this application, an entirely new point is made.- The possibly weakened original point is removed and the new point having as a backing the entire body of the needle is often of finer grain and more wearable structure than the original point.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A fiber reproducing needle having a thin hard shell on one side thereof, having a triangular cross section, and having one end beveled so as to form a point on the shell portion, and having that one of the soft sides of the needle which runs down to the point of the needle beveled ofl' adjacent the point of the needle. Y

2. The method of repointing a fiber reproducing needle having a thin hard shell on one side thereof, having atriangular cross section, and having one end beveled so as to form apoint on the shell portion,

which method consists in removing a thin 13o slice 0d of that one of the soft sides of the needle which is adjacent the point of the needle together with the extreme point of the needle.

3. The method of repointing a fiber reproducing needle having a thin hard shell on one side thereof, having an angular" cross section, and having one end beveled so as to form a point on the shell portion, which to method consists in removing a thin slice ofi of that one of the soft sides of the needle which is adjacent the point of the needle together with the extreme point of the needle.

4. A fiber reproducing needle having a 15 thin hard shell on one side thereof, having an angular cross section, and having one end beveled so as to form a point on the shell portion, and having that one of the soft sides of the needle which runs down to the point of the needle beveled 0E adjacent the point'of the needle.

In'witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names in the presence of two witnesses.

ALVIN B. WAHLQUIST, FREDERICK D. HALL.

Witnesses:

MARGARET M. CASEY, SAM JoHNsoN. 

